Neighbors

I lucked into some great neighbors on this move. My front yard is that back yard of a guy named Mike. We both rent from the same people. He has bee here for 4 years, is a blue-collar professional (he does bidding for one of the largest construction companies in this metro area) and enjoys gardening and cheap beer. We barbecue or drink beer together at least once a week. He is much more liberal than I, but is a good man, and can articulate why he views certain politics the way he does. I may not always agree with him, but I respect that he can back up his beliefs with reasonable arguments. He is a fun, hard-working, and intelligent man. For having to share a yard with someone, I did hit the jackpot, as far as neighbors goes.

Across the street, I have another neighbor, Aaron. Funnily enough, I have known him for about 20 years. When we were kids, he was friends with a friend of mine. We always got along fine as kids, and even though I haven't seen him in 10 years, we apparently still get along fine. He works for the local college as building maintenance, and is about a year away from getting a degree in Industrial Maintenance. He is a good guy, and bikes everywhere. He mountain bikes on the weekend, goes on neighborhood rides daily, and commutes to work (about 6 miles) almost every day.

The Boy-o got into bike riding earlier this summer, and insisted we take off the training wheels after learning to ride without them at Paw-Paw's. We were in a bind, and Aaron offered to let me borrow a bike to ride with the Boy-o.

This is no small thing. This dude lives bike-riding. He let me borrow one of his "beater" bikes for almost 6 weeks. I looked it up, and it was about a $700 bike.

2 weeks ago, me and the wife bought bikes to go riding with the Boy-o, and we go riding 4-5 times each week. It's a great family activity. But I wanted to say thanks to Aaron for lending us his bike.

I made him a tool-bag for his bike. This way, he can carry the basic tools you may need to repair problems encountered on the side of the road  with a bike.

He seemed to like it.

Having awesome neighbors is hard to beat.